


All Good Things

by Irving-Braxiatel (Elycia7)



Series: Wynter Olympics [3]
Category: Gallifrey (Big Finish Audio)
Genre: Hurt/Comfort, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-03
Updated: 2017-05-03
Packaged: 2018-10-27 15:49:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,425
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10812087
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Elycia7/pseuds/Irving-Braxiatel
Summary: Irving has been keeping secrets, and Romana is tired of it.





	All Good Things

**Author's Note:**

> Takes place seven years after the last instalment in the series

The silence in the car was so palpable Irving felt he might choke on it.

“I’m sorry,” he murmured to Romana. She didn’t look away from the road. “I mean it. I really am-”

“Please, Brax,” Romana snapped. “Just… stop apologising. You made a mistake. I make them too. It’s fine.” 

“A mistake that cost us a whole day worth of training,” he pointed out, as they stopped, waiting for a traffic light to turn. 

Romana turned in her seat. “No one got hurt, Brax. You are tired, and you couldn’t do a lift, it’s not that big a deal. I’m not angry with you, I just want you to stop beating yourself up over it so we can move on.” 

He looked out the window. “It matters to me, Romana. I should be better than this.” 

The light changed, and Romana looked at the road again.

“Does this mean you will be training tomorrow, then?” Romana asked. 

“I don’t think I have much choice,” he said. “I can’t risk getting this wrong.” 

“We have plans tomorrow,” Romana pointed out. The sound of the gate to their garden was the only reply. 

“Irving-” 

“It’s only my birthday,” he said softly. “We don’t have to celebrate it. I’ve had 29 other birthdays already.” 

Romana turned off the car engine, and looked up at him. “Please, Brax.”

He took her hands, kissing both of them. “I just need to get this right,” he promised. “I won’t be long. We can still spend most of the day together. I just need a bit more time to perfect this lift.” 

Romana shook her head at him, taking her hands back, and getting out of the car. 

Irving followed her. 

“I just want us to have this day together,” Romana told him, as she unlocked the front door. 

“We were together all day today,” Irving said. 

Romana shot him a look over her shoulder. “No. I was with my skating partner all day. I want to spend some time with my husband for once.” 

Ah. Now there was an argument they had had before. “You’re being pedantic, Love.” 

She sighed. “Not that again, Brax.” 

“It’s true.

Romana dropped her training bag on the living room floor, clearly getting annoyed with him. “When did we just go for dinner together? Go to the theatre? Even just go for a walk together?” 

“I… Ah that must have been…”   


“You don’t remember.”

“We’ve been busy,” he argued. “I want to do all of those things as much as you, Romana. We just don’t have the time right now.”

“You have been busy,” she corrected. 

He looked down. “I need to get this right, Romana. You understand that. If I get it wrong, I could endanger us both.” 

“You’re too tired to get it right as it is,” Romana said. 

That struck a nerve. “No. I’m not,” he said, voice harsher than he intended. 

Romana huffed with frustration. “Fine. We go over it together.” 

“I don’t need-” 

“That’s final.” 

The silence that followed lasted nearly a minute. 

“Will you do the laundry while I go and make dinner?” Irving asked, downtrodden. 

Romana nodded, picking the bag up from the floor again. As she took his out of his hand, their fingers brushing. She looked up at him, as if to say “I am furious with you and this discussion isn’t over, but I still love you.” 

Irving leaned closer, kissing her cheek. He was just as angry, but not with her,  with himself. With this whole situation. And it wasn’t fair of him to take it out on her.

Once they reunited to eat, they had both cooled down. Today had been a very long day and they were both too exhausted to continue the argument. Instead they curled up on the sofa together after dinner, neither really watching whatever was on the television.

Before long they were both starting to fall asleep. “Come on,” Romana said, tugging at his hand. “If we are going to get up early tomorrow we should go to bed now.” 

Irving wanted to point out that she did not have to. But they had argued enough today. Instead he followed her, and they got ready for bed in silence. 

Normally the darkness would have made them both feel further from their argument earlier. And yet, they both felt so much more exposed, at the mercy of the other with no chores or other day-to-day activities to hide behind. There was a heavy weight on Irving’s chest, one that had been there for a few months now. And he knew full well that until he told Romana the truth it wouldn’t go away. 

He lay, watching the minutes tick by on the digital clock on his bedside table. Romana was breathing slowly in his arms, but she wasn’t snoring in her usual fashion, so he knew she must still be awake. 

“Romana?” he asked just before midnight. 

She stirred in his arms. “Hmm?” She clearly wasn’t as awake as Irving had thought. 

“Romana, I need to tell you something.”

He expected Romana, who was normally at the least grumpy when she was awoken, to ask him to tell her in the morning. But instead she looked up at him. He could just about make out her tired eyes in the dark. He swallowed. No turning back now. 

“I’m retiring.” 

Whatever reaction he had expected, it wasn’t what he got. She squirmed closer, cupping his cheeks, holding his face as she kissed him. 

“I know.” 

He stared at her. Now he could see her clearly. 

“You know?” 

She ran her fingers through his hair. “You’re tired. And you’re not having fun skating anymore.”

He nodded. “I don’t want to.” His voice quivered in a way that was both unintentional, and in his eyes, unacceptable. 

She nodded, then smiled. “I was beginning to think I would have to hide your skates at this rate..” 

He smiled at that. “I’d have stolen yours too, and held them hostage until you returned mine.” But that raised another issue, and his face fell again. 

“I’m not retiring,” Romana confirmed.

Irving smiled weakly, holding her a little closer. “I don’t want you to. You’re the best there is. Just because I can’t keep up anymore, that doesn’t mean you should stop as well.” 

Romana wanted to correct him, and tell him he was still the best as well, even if he wasn’t as good as he had once been. But for weeks she had been waiting for this conversation, and she could wait a little longer on the rest of it. Right now they were both exhausted, and she needed to convince Brax not to push himself so hard he would get injured and be unable to finish this last season. 

“Stay home with me tomorrow?” she asked, still combing her fingers through his dark hair. 

He closed his eyes, leaning into her touch. “That’s not fair, dear.” He murmured. “You know I can’t say no to you when you do that.” 

She smiled. “Of course I do.” She kept playing with his hair. “I don’t want you to say no.

Irving made a face, reaching up and taking her hand. “I need to get this right,” he reminded her gently. 

“You already have it right,” Romana said. “You’re just too tired to do it right now. Just rest for a bit. Please. for me.” 

He sighed, closing his eyes. “Is it very important to you?” 

“Very.” 

He looked at her again. “The day after tomorrow I’m going in early to go over it before training,” he told her. 

“I’ll come with you,” Romana smiled.

“Only to watch. At least until I’m certain I won’t drop you.” 

She kissed the corner of his mouth. “You won’t. But fine. Now, go to sleep. You are getting up early tomorrow. I am making you breakfast in bed.”

He must have looked slightly alarmed. “Well. Heating it,” she clarified. “I called in a favour and your friend from that place you love so much is coming over with something on their way to work.”

He laughed, and turned so she was lying spooned against is back. 

“But try to forget about that, it was meant to be a surprise,” Romana said in his ear, snuggling against him. 

He laughed. “I’ll do my best. Goodnight, Romana.” 

“Goodnight,” she yawned. “And Brax?” 

“Mmhm?” he asked, eyes falling shut. 

“Happy birthday.” 

The last thing he saw before falling asleep with a smile on his face, was the clock, displaying 00.02.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! I'm hoping I'll have bit more time for writing now the academic year is nearly over, so hopefully the wait until the next WO fic will be shorter


End file.
